Queensland explorer Ausmex Mining has hit near-surface gold above 20 grams per tonne in historic mines that haven’t been touched since 1939.

Maiden drilling below the “Shamrock” and “Mt Scheelite” historic open pit mines returned results of up to 2m at 23.5 grams per tonne – 37 metres from surface.

Anything above 5g of gold per tonne is considered high-grade.

Ausmex (ASX:AMG) moved up almost 15 per cent to 5.6c on the news.

The results expand the Golden Mile project target area – near Cloncurry in Queensland — to 2km wide and 8km long.

A number of high-grade mines like Shamrock and Mt Scheelite produced grades of up to 90 grams per tonne when they were in operation, but have not been properly explored since.

The Ausmex Mining share price (ASX:AMG) over the past year.
The Ausmex Mining share price (ASX:AMG) over the past year.

Ausmex boss Matt Morgan told investors that these intersections of shallow, oxidized, high grade gold could form part of a resource amenable to bulk open pit mining.

Excellent tungsten grades could also add t0 the project economics, he said.

“Mt Scheelite has never previously been drilled yet the first two drill holes completed by the company have produced excellent grades near surface including up to 0.4 per cent tungsten with gold,” he said.

“With tungsten prices currently sitting at $40,000 per tonne, 0.5 per cent could possibly contain up to $2,000 per tonne of material.

“These grades have the potential to significantly add to the economics of any shallow surface gold mineralisation.”

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